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It is not in his DNA to hang back and wait for the game to come to him.

This is not how Alex Ovechkin and the rest of the Washington Capitals like to roll, spending time frustrated in the neutral zone while their considerable God-given talents are forcibly throttled down.

But if Game 1 of the Capitals-Tampa Bay Lightning series on Friday night showed us anything, it is that the Great 8 may just have to wait if he's going to be a factor in Round 2.

Ovechkin managed just two shots on goal in Friday's opener, a 4-2 Capitals loss that showed just how effective the Lightning can be when you let them get under your skin.

The flashy Russian was by no means alone in Washington's struggles, but it is clear that if the Caps don't figure out a way to break the stifling Lightning system, the favourites are in for a fight.

"I think they blocked like seven of my shots," Ovechkin said at the team's optional practice Saturday at their facility in the D.C. suburbs. "I had an opportunity to maybe make some moves and I didn't make it.

"When you are a little bit frustrated after they come back and they get a couple of lucky goals, of course you are going to try to go faster and be holding your stick a little bit tight."

Yes, frustration was the word of the off-day for the Capitals, who saw for themselves just what the Penguins saw in the opening round. And yes, both Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom, who hasn't scored in his past 14 games, may be forcing the issue.

Once the Lightning got the lead with Steven Stamkos' power-play goal late in the second period, they went into lockdown mode, a strategy they play to near perfection.

The Capitals, for all their firepower, could manage just five shots on Tampa goaltender Dwayne Roloson in the third period. Worse yet, the power-play was a benign 0-for-5 and Ovechkin was a non-factor.

"Playing catch-up to a team that is very good defensively, is very frustrating to the offensive team," Caps coach Bruce Boudreau said on Saturday. "It's a tough haul.

"They're sitting back and waiting for you. They've had 89 or 90 games now to work on this so they are really patient and doing a very good job of it.

"Other teams aren't so patient."

What bothered Boudreau most was that his team didn't have to find itself in that position. Leading 2-1 in the later stages of the second period, the Caps seemed to revert to their old free-wheeling ways and by the time it was intermission, found themselves trailing.

This was supposed to be a Capitals team that spent the regular season building for the playoffs by placing a new emphasis on defence. As they have found out too often in the recent past, the flash of Ovechkin and Co. can get you into trouble this time of year if the overall style of the game gets too loose.

How ironic then, that a team that hasn't been in the post-season in four years, seemed better equipped to compete in Game 1.

"At the end of the day, as long as we are keeping the shots from the outside and not letting them penetrate the middle and forcing them to dumping the puck in, then we know we are doing something right," Stamkos said. "We've done it all year. Whether it frustrates the other team or not, we don't pay attention to that. We just pay a lot of attention to our game and our structure that has helped us get to this position ultimately.

"When you can hold a team like that to five shots (in the third) when they absolutely need a goal shows the structure and how everybody is buying into it."